Pellegrini focused on Villarreal advance

Manuel Pellegrini says his Villarreal CF team "are focused on getting as far as possible" as they prepare to discover which side lies between them and matching the success of their maiden campaign by reaching the semi-finals.

Semi-final defeat
The Yellow Submarine's thrill-packed voyage into Europe continued last week with a 2-1 win at Panathinaikos FC putting the Spanish side into the draw for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Thursday. However, memories of the club's debut in the competition in 2005/06, which ended in a 1-0 aggregate semi-final defeat against Arsenal FC, are helping Pellegrini maintain his motivation ahead of the next round of fixtures.

Undeserved defeat
"We have been in the Champions League before and we are focused on getting as far as possible," said the Chilean coach, who has been at the helm of the club since 2004. "We will try to keep playing the football we showed we could play in the second half against Panathinaikos. In our last campaign we didn't deserve to go out as semi-finalists; we should have been in the final. That is in the past, though. We now have to focus on our next opponents and try to beat them."

Fighting spirit
The club are on a real high after ousting Panathinaikos according to Ariel Ibagaza, the man that scored one goal and set up the winner in Athens. "We told each other after the 1-1 draw in first leg at El Madrigal that we would qualify," he said. "The people that gathered to watch the game on TV have to be proud of the team. We showed our true colours on a difficult pitch. Our chances were 50-50 at the start of the night, but we never stopped fighting to get through."

'We could go far'
With seven high-pedigree sides joining them in the last eight, Villarreal's players do not care too much who they are paired with in the draw in Nyon. Joseba Llorente, scorer of the winner against Panathinikos, said: We are now one of the eight strongest teams in Europe, so every opponent will be difficult." Fellow forward Giuseppe Rossi added: "We have no idea how far we can go, but we have a very good team and if we keep on playing well, just like we did against Panathinaikos, we could go far."